April 2006: Question and Answer with Pat Listach

[Chris]

Pat Listach, Manager of the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx, has graciously agreed to answer questions from posters on NSBB! If you would like to send a comment to Pat, or if you would like to ask Pat a question, feel free to post it here. The deadline for submitting questions is Thursday, April 13th at noon. Once the interview has been completed, the responses will be posted.

 

This session will be coordinated as in accordance with The NSBB Q & A Guidelines.

 

Pat Listach, 38, is in his sixth season in the Cubs’ minor league organization. The former American League Rookie of the Year (1992) has spent the past five seasons as the hitting coach for the Triple-A Iowa Cubs. During the 2002 season, Listach also had a brief stint as the manager of the club.

 

Before beginning his tenure with the Iowa Cubs, the Natchitoches, Louisiana, native served as the hitting coach for the Lansing Lugnuts (Class A) in 2000 and in the Arizona Fall League following the 2001 season.

 

Listach was drafted out of Arizona State University in the fifth round of the 1988 draft by the Milwaukee Brewers. He played six seasons of Major League Baseball with the Milwaukee Brewers (1992-1996) and the Houston Astros (1997). Following the 1997 season, Listach completed his playing career by seeing action for the Cleveland Indians’ Triple-A affiliate and the Philadelphia Phillies’ Triple-A club in 1998.

 

Listach and his wife Lisa have four children, Mariah, Hollie, Patrick, and Blaine. (Bio courtesy of The Official Website of the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx.)

 

Thank you to Pat for taking the time to interact with us on such an up close and personal level. Best wishes to Pat and the rest of the West Tennessee diamond Jaxx in the 2006 season. As always, thank you to all of you for making NSBB such a wonderful community!

[CubinNY]

Mr. Listach,

 

Was it a difficult transition coming back down to the minors to coach after spending time in the majors? I mean, going from Filet Mingon to In-N-Out Burger would be tough. You must really love baseball.

 

Thanks for talking to us, and I hope to get to a game this year.

 

CubinNY (Soon to be CubinTN)

Edited April 7, 2006 by CubinNY

[NCCubFan]

You finished the 2002 season as Iowa manager after Bruce Kimm took over from Don Baylor in Chicago. How much has that experience helped prepare you to become a full-time manager? Also, do you have goals of one day becoming a coach or manager at the major league level?

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Pat,

 

Hi. I'm from Monroe, Louisiana. Do you ever get back to Natchitoches much?

[CuseCubFan69]

Who has had the most influance on you as a manager? What books would you recommend reading to coaches/managers to improve themselves?

[rawaction]

Thanks for fielding our questions, Coach Listach.

 

As a (former) hitting coach, what types of things do you typically see in minor leaguers that cause them to slump?

 

How hard is it to get a fairly established hitter (AAA tends to have older guys or guys close to the majors) to tweak something with his stance or timing?

[albertodegama]

i am new here, its a great forum, i think i can learn a lot in this forum.Hope it will b a great pleasure to be a member of this site. This is really a good thing that a specific thread has been already here for the new comers to introduce. Will meet all of you in discussions. I'm positively looking forward to the forum and its members hope all will guide, share and help me to increase my knowledge.

[UMFan83]

ha

[imb]

i am new here, its a great forum, i think i can learn a lot in this forum.Hope it will b a great pleasure to be a member of this site. This is really a good thing that a specific thread has been already here for the new comers to introduce. Will meet all of you in discussions. I'm positively looking forward to the forum and its members hope all will guide, share and help me to increase my knowledge.

 

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